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The US Space program used ordinary pencils in space throughout the Mercury and Gemini programs. Paul Fisher, founder of the Fisher Pen Company, spent over one million dollars of his own money developing the Fisher Space Pen before he came up with a working prototype in 1965, which he submitted to NASA for evaluation. NASA approved it for space flight in September 1965, and purchased 400 pens at $2.95 each in December 1967. The Soviet space program adopted them in 1968.

Yes, there are plenty of inspirational stories of independent websites helping to feed the public's quest for more information

Actually, I started listening to AM radio (700 WLW if you are interested), and watched my local news after Sept 11th, and I found just as many inspirational stories and just as much "additional information" than I found on the net. And the stories I heard about and watched were more reliable, because I know those shows investigate the story's validness (is that a word?) before airing it.

Where as, I have to have snopes open with all the stories on the net.

Roomer Busting site

I leave it up to the reader to read the following articles and put the pieces together for themselves to see the action/reaction balance going on.

US Koran site

CIA report (note religion percentage)

Muslim culture (outside Afganistan):site 1
site 2

Trillion Dollar bet

Problems caused by trillion dollar bet:

abcnews may 98

cnn may 98

Bigger than the Trillion Dollar BET - x3?

Current 2 year US stock market link comparing the DOW with the S&P and most important the NASDAQ. You can tell where the money went and also know what the dot coms were all about.
finance.yahoo.com graph

National Security Agency total system crash finally reported August 29th 2001

Losing freedoms:SSSCA

Urban Lengend

To sumarise, NASA needed a pen that wouldn't:

Burn in 100% oxygen atmosphere
Would work in a vacuum
Work under zero-G
Could work in +150c and -120c

Prior to using the pen, the Americans also used pencils. Pencils had problems with the tips breaking off, which could be a hazard.

In December of 1967 Paul C. Fisher, the inventer of the pen, sold 400 of them to NASA for $2.95 each.

If you have to know, the White House is white in order to protect the locally-quarried sandstone used for the exterior against deterioriation. The poster you are replying to is probably confused by
a popular urban legend, though.

Joel Seigel once did a review of "Benji" on the air, panning it in every way he could. Then, as they were going to a commercial he said "and now, it's time for this message."

Dude, I think you may have been had. There is a pretty common urban myth regarding a legislated value for pi. I don't see that this dumblaws site has done a lot of research to back up their claims, and frankly about 90% of what I saw for the state of Indiana looked highly suspicious. Since they don't document in any way where their claim comes from, or how to check up on it, I'm willing to bet that it was just a 'helpful submission' from someone perpetuating a silly myth.

Where are these facts coming from? Is it this mythological study?

I love this kind of myth. It rings particularly well with people because they like to view the past through rose-tinted glasses. Whether you recall any shootings then or not is really quite irrelevant. You haven't brought up any statistics to back it up. See here for a really good example of how people's view of "better days" in the past, particularly relating to public school conditions, can be largely mythical.

Note that I haven't provided any statistics of my own. That's because I'm not making the claim. It is up to you to find statistics on school violence since it is you who are claiming it is more prevalent now than in the past. But I do have a copy of a novel of the era in question (the 70's) written by one Richard Bachman, also known as Stephen King. The novel is Rage, and it describes a school shooting and the events leading up to it quite accurately. While a fictional account is by no means a statistic, it might give you food for thought to realize that the presence of a gun in a school setting was plausible enough for a 20-something Stephen King to write a rather vivid novel about nearly thirty years ago. Personally, given what I see about other myths circulating, that the only thing in our society that has changed is that violent acts have been more sensationalized in the press than ever before, because the press has degenerated into a ratings frenzy as their viewer and readership plummets. These are statistics that can be readily checked and causes that can be easily demonstrated, and without doing much else I find it a far more likely explanation of the so-called "wave" of school shootings taking place.

That is both mind-blowingly awesome, and terrifying, and, well, obviously difficult to believe. I'll check it out on snopes.com, an urban legend-debunking site, see if there's anything similar. Cool though, man.

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And you shouldn't. Most Spam will make a reference to Bill 1618 stating that they have to remove you if you respond. Snopes has an article with an addedum that shows that this is bs

Simple, just use a green marker or paint around the edge of the CD.

Very funny. Anyway, it is NOT an acronym. The word has clear relatives in other Germanic languages, which variously mean "to hit", "to push", or even "to have sex".

The other "backronym" that was invented to explain the word is "Fornication Under Consent of the King". Not true either.

See alt.usage.english FAQ, or Snopes.
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This urban legend surfaces from time to time. It is debunked here

It may well be an urban legend, but I hardly think the site debunks it! Rather, they deny it. Very few facts one way or the other are presented w/regard to this, so a study might actually provide useful information.

I am a fan of the various urban legend sites, but just because one of these sites pronounces something an urban legend doesn't mean it is. Read the content on the site itself and see if they make a compelling case before agreeing with it. (This is a general admonition; not a specific one directed at you.)

Whenever I hear a story like this, I always get the straight poop from snopes!

--- Speaking only for myself,

This does not happen.. you (and the BBC) have all been the victims of a e-mail hoax. Next time, check Snopes.com before posting anything. ever.

Liebe, Livre, Libre.
See the article here.

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This urban legend surfaces from time to time. It is debunked here

This is an urban legend. The indefinite article with a noun indicating profession, nationality, etc. means the word is being used figuratively or to indicate a characteristic quality. (Example: "Er ist Politiker" == "He's a politician"; "Er ist ein Politiker" == roughly, "He's such a politician".) See also Snopes.

If anyone actually believed the parent post (would someone please moderate that FUD down?), then you may wish to check out this link.

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Lot of fiction labelled fact and a lot of fact labelled fiction up there. I'm a Nader guy, so I don't know why I bother, but an impartial discussion of the "gore lies" thing can be found at this urban legends site.

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet

The full phrasing is important because the statement clearly is talking about what he did as a congressperson. He took the initiative over other Congresspeople to create the internet. (I never stated that he the quote meant a legistlative "initiative". Just that he took the Congressional initiative in creating the internet). There may have been many other people who had taken initiative to create the internet, but Gore took the inititive as a congress person.

According to the Internet Timeline, in 1986 the NSFNET was just created with a backbone of 56Kbps, but Vint Cerf acknowledged that "As far back as 1986, [Gore] was holding hearings on this subject (supercomputing, fiber networks...) and asking about their promise and what could be done to realize them. Bob Kahn, with whom I worked to develop the Internet design in 1973, participated in several hearings held by then-Senator Gore". In 1986, the internet was far from done. It was still being created. It can be said that it is still being created, but it can eaily be said that Al Gore played an important part in creating the internet. Not the first internet, but the internet, the one you are using right now.

I'll probably be moderated down again for stating this opinion, but I really don't care. I am rather sick of the media falsifying and cut quoting statements by Gore. For a longer disection of many Gore "lies," there is another good article on snopes.

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet

One important difference is the phrasing implies "Congressional inititive," not that he was the first ever to take the initiative in creating the internet.

An even more important aspect of this phrasing is that he used the word "creating", not "inventing". The phrasing implies that s a congressman, he promoted and passed bills that allocated budgets needed for the implementation of such a network. As Vint Cerf (often referred to as "the Father of the Internet") stated in an email to MSNBC:

VP Gore was the first or surely among the first of the members of Congress to become a strong supporter of advanced networking while he served as Senator.

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet

One important difference is the phrasing implies "Congressional inititive," not that he was the first ever to take the initiative in creating the internet.

An even more important aspect of this phrasing is that he used the word "creating", not "inventing". The phrasing implies that s a congressman, he promoted and passed bills that allocated budgets needed for the implementation of such a network. As Vint Cerf (often referred to as "the Father of the Internet") stated in an email to MSNBC:

VP Gore was the first or surely among the first of the members of Congress to become a strong supporter of advanced networking while he served as Senator.

You can also check out a refutation of the claim at www.snopes.com. It's a pretty good refutation... Snopes is always good at debunking myths, although the political myths that have been debunked have all been anti-democrat this year...

Answer: quintuple the price, trace the edges with a green magic marker, slap a bunch of pseudoscientific gibberish on the front and then congratulate them on having a more "well-trained ear" than the rest of those damn hoi-polloi.

The best way to deal with "audiophiles" is to consider them a form of free entertainment, and proof that cocaine isn't god's only way of telling you that you have too much money.

With their faith in humanity restored, the happy couple went off to the symphony and returned later only to find all the contents of their house gone.

The comparison would be amusing, if AT&T's plan weren't reality!

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Dear Internet Subscriber:

Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online and continue using email: The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the Government of the United States attempting to quietly push through legislation that will affect your use of the Internet.

Under proposed legislation the U.S. Postal Service will be attempting to bilk email users out of "alternate postage fees".

Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt to charge a 5cent surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet Service Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn by the ISP. Washington D.C. lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law.

The U.S. Postal Service is claiming that lost revenue due to the proliferation of email is costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue per year. You may have noticed their recent ad campaign "There is nothing like a letter". Since the average citizen received about 10 pieces of email per day in 1998, the cost to the typical individual would be an additional 50 cents per day, or over $180 dollars per year, above and beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that this would be money paid directly to the U.S. Postal Service for a service they do not even provide. The whole point of the Internet is democracy and non-interference. If the federal government is permitted to tamper with our liberties by adding a surcharge to email, who knows where it will end. You are already paying an exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureacratic efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered from New York to Buffalo. If the U.S. Postal Service is allowed to tinker with email, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in the United States. One congressman, Tony Schnell (r) has even suggested a "twenty to forty dollar per month surcharge on all Internet service" above and beyond the government's proposed email charges.

Note that most of the major newspapers have ignored the story, the only exception being the Washingtonian which called the idea of email surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come" (March 6th 1999 Editorial) Don't sit by and watch your freedoms erode away!

Send this email to all Americans on your list and tell your friends and relatives to write to their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P.

Kate Turner
Assistant to Richard Stepp
Berger, Stepp and Gorman
Attorneys at Law
216 Concorde Street,
Vienna, Va.
------------

The comparison would be amusing, if AT&T's plan weren't reality!

---------------------------
Dear Internet Subscriber:

Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online and continue using email: The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the Government of the United States attempting to quietly push through legislation that will affect your use of the Internet.

Under proposed legislation the U.S. Postal Service will be attempting to bilk email users out of "alternate postage fees".

Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt to charge a 5cent surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet Service Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn by the ISP. Washington D.C. lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law.

The U.S. Postal Service is claiming that lost revenue due to the proliferation of email is costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue per year. You may have noticed their recent ad campaign "There is nothing like a letter". Since the average citizen received about 10 pieces of email per day in 1998, the cost to the typical individual would be an additional 50 cents per day, or over $180 dollars per year, above and beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that this would be money paid directly to the U.S. Postal Service for a service they do not even provide. The whole point of the Internet is democracy and non-interference. If the federal government is permitted to tamper with our liberties by adding a surcharge to email, who knows where it will end. You are already paying an exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureacratic efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered from New York to Buffalo. If the U.S. Postal Service is allowed to tinker with email, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in the United States. One congressman, Tony Schnell (r) has even suggested a "twenty to forty dollar per month surcharge on all Internet service" above and beyond the government's proposed email charges.

Note that most of the major newspapers have ignored the story, the only exception being the Washingtonian which called the idea of email surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come" (March 6th 1999 Editorial) Don't sit by and watch your freedoms erode away!

Send this email to all Americans on your list and tell your friends and relatives to write to their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P.

Kate Turner
Assistant to Richard Stepp
Berger, Stepp and Gorman
Attorneys at Law
216 Concorde Street,
Vienna, Va.
------------

More can be had about this, and other urban legends/hoaxes/tall tales/whatever:

snopes.com

(one of my primary sources for dealing with hoaxes I encounter.)

So now when someone asks a participant where the weirdest place they had sex was, they can truthfully answer "in an MRI machine!"

Don't mind me. I'm just pissed off because I submitted this story 2 days ago. And was rejected.

Dutch might have been a "world" language. When the USoA had to decide what language to pick as their national language (no, the Americans didn't invent English :-) the senate was one vote short for Dutch being the primary language in the USoA.

Incorrect. This is an urban legend, and you screwed it up. In the legend, German almost became the official language.

As usual, Snopes has the real deal:

http://www.snopes.com/spoons/fracture/german.htm

What a load. Pennies and nickels are legal tender according to popular myth debunking site, snopes.com. I worked at a cafe that carted our electric bill in pennies in wheelbarrows to the 'lectric company HQ and dumped it on the floor to protest a nuclear power issue locally.

The official language of the US was *never* intended to be german.
see the ULRP for details.
dave

That's an urban legend. The nova was sold in Hispanic countries and sold decently. Snopes has the complete scoop on it. ULs like this shouldn't keep spreading.

What in the world made you put Australia and Canada before Russia? Should the US be on guard against APBs (Armored Polar Bears) or anti-aircraft kangaroos?

They might have financial woes, but do few entities ready to file Chapter 11 can lob a nuke into your backyard.


Andrew Borntreger

fsck I'd been had!
http://snopes.com/spoons/fracture/germ an.htm

That would be an urban legend.

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Frozen walt is an urban legend.
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Did you make a special case for this, or do you just believe everything you read?

Snopes.com has no agenda for or against aspartame. Check them out. Put "aspartame" in the handy site search engine. Read what they've posted. Visit the links for both points of view which are represented. Exercise some critical thinking skills (big-font underlined blink tags have no bearing on the truth even if they do make for an ugly web site).

Ah yes, the ol' rocket powered car urban legend. Check out this.

"I think the country could be spared a lot of agony and the government could worry about inflation and a lot of other problems if [Nixon would] go on and resign."

"[There is] no question that an admission of making false statements to government officials and interfering with the FBI and the CIA is an impeachable offense."

It's obvious that these quotes have been distorted to suit the political leanings of those who repeat them (politicians? bending the truth?! never!) ;)

My teacher brought forth the point that there is already super-efficent, super cheap, solar panels out there...the only problem is that Pacific Gas & Electric bought the patent to them and rufuses to release the technology to the public.

Perhaps the icons are logical, but when given mystery meat navigation, she is most likely confused. That's the thing with icons, they have to be targeted, and they have to mean the same thing to all people. This fellow is talking about an international effort, and therefore must not only translate, but localise his content.

Localisation involves matching culture to the point that an add doesn't give the wrong impression.

Wrong wrong wrong. Here are the ingredients in Coke (see this page)

Citrate Caffein, 1 oz. Ext. Vanilla, 1 oz. Flavoring, 2.5 oz.
F.E. Coco, 4 oz.
Citric Acid, 3 oz.
Lime Juice, 1 Qt.
Sugar, 30 lbs.
Water, 2.5 Gal.
Caramel sufficient

Mix Caffeine Acid and Lime Juice in 1 Qt Boiling water add vanilla and flavoring when cool.

FlavoringOil Orange, 80
Oil Lemon, 120
Oil Nutmeg, 40
Oil Cinnamon, 40
Oil Coriander, 40
Oil Neroli, 40
Alcohol, 1 Qt.
let stand 24 hours.

The thing is, getting de-cocanized coca leaves (Fluid Extract of Coco) requires a special license from the gubment. Guess who owns the only license?

(note that this is an older recipe, but it's a starting point :)

According to this article , a red/white Santa Claise was used long before Coca Cola used it to promote it's products.

I don't really see how Coca Cola could have a trademark on Santa Claus, exept maybe Santa Claus holding a bottle of Coca cola. :)


-= SNw =- http://home.sol.no/~corderud/

For a critical analysis of this oft-forwarded spam, check out this page.

Taking the thread slightly offtopic...

While I agree with most of your statements, I have to call you on the Disney+Porno thing. Though there have been one, maybe two incidents in disney films, the vast majority of these accusations have been disproved. Check out this page for more on urban legends in disney movies.

More likely than not, it's this rabid faction of fundamentalists who, due to their distaste for Disney's stance on gay rights, make up a lot of this tripe.

Truth or fiction? The world may never know. :)

Found a more comprehensive page on the same subject at this location that is probably where the information I originally remembered came from. And, since this is slipping off topic rather fast, I'll stop there. True or not, the story does have a useful moral. :)

Steve Lionel

Do we have any true confirmation, or is this just more word of mouth stuff? I mean, there are a lot of more plausible sounding urban legends on this site.

Let's analyse this: Big corporation X, which many people don't understand, and has been recently confirmed to have been doing evil things, has an employee, who accidently sends package Y, which is worth 1,000,000 dollars. This person, Z, who is a complete innocent just trying to get his fair share from company X is shocked/scared/suprised as company X brings in the [Mafia|Police|Military] to get back its 1,000,000 dollars package. Lesson to be learned: really don't trust those large corporations, because they're all evil and secretly control the government.

" Has the NYPD now been reduced to foot soldiers that serve to correct simple clerical errors on behalf of corporate America? "
I don't know. I'd want a signed letter, compelete with a few forms of ID, from this Scott Posner fellow before I'd believe any of this in the slightest. This is an NT security rag^H^H^Hmag...
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